Is Grand Moff Tarkin In “Rogue One”?

Easily the best of TV spot to date for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” arrived online late Sunday, one set mostly to Vader’s breathing and taking a darker tone than some of the other ads.

However it’s one shot that has got everyone talking – one that suggests one of the franchise’s most famed characters is back – Grand Moff Tarkin. Played by Peter Cushing in the original, the character is in charge of the original Death Star in the first film and so his presence would be understandable.

Anthony Breznican of Entertainment Weekly spotted that the clip includes a single moment of an Imperial officer looking across a viewport at the construction of the Death Star – an officer whose ears, hair and uniform seem to match Tarkin.

Rumors of Tarkin being included through some next-level CG wizardry have long been around. Cushing has long since left us, but the character was seen briefly in “Revenge of the Sith” with the help of some make-up.

That’s not the case here and this may be some of the more innovative tech invented for the film with visual effects supervisor John Knoll recently saying: “I have to tread lightly there because some of the fun bits of innovation are stuff that I’ve been asked not to talk about yet. You know, we want to hold that back.”